I'm actually going to include Friday in my lovely agility weekend, as I had a great time at the Hand Equestrian centre in preparation of being part of a Severnside Dog Agility club ring party for the World Championships being held there in May. Not only was it nice to go through what we'll be doing and getting familiar with the venue, we were also able to watch the GB squad train - which included Ella's litter sister Wych with her handler Nicky Garrett. I was also introduced to Sheltie expert Bernadette Olsson Bay, who as well as being extremely knowledgeable, it also extremely nice too! I had Diva with me and she kindly took a look at her to chat about whether or not she's going to be Small/ Medium - verdict was Medium, so no joining the Severnside Small team for us! Will have to make up a new Medium one instead, I think we'll just about have enough fingers crossed!
As well as Friday being lovely for those things, I was also able to come to the decision that Ella was safely out of season too. This has been much shorter than previous, probably due to the injections she had to postpone them. I only hope she doesn't decide to have another proper one shortly! Coming to this conclusion opened up the weekend to lots of agility - UKA Hereford, Severnside league match v. Chippenham and a friendly Severnside match v. Dervish. What more could a girl ask for?!
What I can't say I expected was what happened next. Now I had decided to go through the weekend with a 'long game' attitude - that is I know that my biggest weakness is lack of competition experience and whilst I didn't expect to do well after us both having two weeks off , I felt I should just get out there for the experience. It was a good idea and it took the pressure off trying to prove anything.
In our first run of the day I was delighted to find I had my lovely, non-hormonal dog back! I'd forgotten just how good she was, and it was great to see. However she came out of the last two weave poles on a set of 12, so we weren't at our best yet. I realised that her pulling out of the poles was almost certainly due to the way I was holding my breath and creeping nervously up behind her, instead of running flat out to direct her to the next obstacle as I do in training. I didn't really believe she would complete them properly, so I was practically willing her to fail!
This revelation brought out quite a dramatic change in me. I realised that what with how fabulous she is at everything else, all I needed to do was run her like I believed in everything else I asked her to do - and then it would only be a question of my handling being accurate. It took another couple of runs before I had that bit sussed - and to be honest, it's one of those things that comes and goes :-)) Anyway, I won't go on anymore, I'm just going to tell you our notable achievements from the weekend:
4th UKA Beginners Agility (5 faults)
1st Agility (League match v. Chippenham)
1st Agility (Friendly match v. Dervish Agility)
1st Steeplechase (Friendly match v. Dervish Agility)
4 out of 5 sets of 12 weave poles correct (Saturday)
2 out of 2 sets of 6 weave poles correct (Sunday)
So what did I learn this weekend? Easy - that belief is everything and it makes for a hell of a run even when you don't go clear. I enjoyed every single run with my dog this weekend, mistakes and all. If I can mirror her great attitude throughout the season, we shouldn't go far wrong. It took a while for me to realise that's what I needed to do, but better late than never huh!
Today I am grateful that my agility partner has always wanted to play the game with me, regardless of how well or badly I directed her in it. Here's a quote that sums up Ella for me:
As well as Friday being lovely for those things, I was also able to come to the decision that Ella was safely out of season too. This has been much shorter than previous, probably due to the injections she had to postpone them. I only hope she doesn't decide to have another proper one shortly! Coming to this conclusion opened up the weekend to lots of agility - UKA Hereford, Severnside league match v. Chippenham and a friendly Severnside match v. Dervish. What more could a girl ask for?!
What I can't say I expected was what happened next. Now I had decided to go through the weekend with a 'long game' attitude - that is I know that my biggest weakness is lack of competition experience and whilst I didn't expect to do well after us both having two weeks off , I felt I should just get out there for the experience. It was a good idea and it took the pressure off trying to prove anything.
In our first run of the day I was delighted to find I had my lovely, non-hormonal dog back! I'd forgotten just how good she was, and it was great to see. However she came out of the last two weave poles on a set of 12, so we weren't at our best yet. I realised that her pulling out of the poles was almost certainly due to the way I was holding my breath and creeping nervously up behind her, instead of running flat out to direct her to the next obstacle as I do in training. I didn't really believe she would complete them properly, so I was practically willing her to fail!
This revelation brought out quite a dramatic change in me. I realised that what with how fabulous she is at everything else, all I needed to do was run her like I believed in everything else I asked her to do - and then it would only be a question of my handling being accurate. It took another couple of runs before I had that bit sussed - and to be honest, it's one of those things that comes and goes :-)) Anyway, I won't go on anymore, I'm just going to tell you our notable achievements from the weekend:
4th UKA Beginners Agility (5 faults)
1st Agility (League match v. Chippenham)
1st Agility (Friendly match v. Dervish Agility)
1st Steeplechase (Friendly match v. Dervish Agility)
4 out of 5 sets of 12 weave poles correct (Saturday)
2 out of 2 sets of 6 weave poles correct (Sunday)
So what did I learn this weekend? Easy - that belief is everything and it makes for a hell of a run even when you don't go clear. I enjoyed every single run with my dog this weekend, mistakes and all. If I can mirror her great attitude throughout the season, we shouldn't go far wrong. It took a while for me to realise that's what I needed to do, but better late than never huh!
Today I am grateful that my agility partner has always wanted to play the game with me, regardless of how well or badly I directed her in it. Here's a quote that sums up Ella for me:
“There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment”
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